A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood

The Hudson River from the High Line in Chelsea on Saturday afternoon (click on images to enlarge

On Saturday my good friend from high school, Suzy Ferenczy MacEnroe, came to NYC for a visit. Suzy and I grew up together upstate, in New Hartford, New York. Our families share a history, and we recently got in touch again. She always had an infectious laugh and a good way with a story, and she still does. Suzy now lives in Beacon, New York, with her family, and she took the train in on Saturday to the Big Apple.

Suzy is unfamiliar with New York so I wanted to give her my take on the city, show her my corner of the world, so we went out to a few spots in my Chelsea neighborhood. First we headed over West 15th Street to the Chelsea Market. You know I'm a big fan of the Chelsea Market.

It was the first time that I noticed those oxidized metal strips across the front of the building. I think the developers of the Chelsea Market did a great job melding new modern elements with the industrial character of this building.

First stop in the Market, Anthropologie. I always like to see what they are up to at Anthropologie. This shelf unit was filled with colorful objects.

I love this tall rolling industrial cart. It looks like carts I recently saw at the Brooklyn Flea.

This big wooden painted table had a metal top, and a huge industrial floor lamp stood over it.

The table was labeled:

This low rolling cart was covered with paint, as if it had come out of an artist's studio. I saw similar carts at the Brooklyn Flea.

These pieces at Anthropologie costs like $4,000 each. Bart Boehlert Beautiful Things tip: go over the Brooklyn Flea and find similar items for about $150.

We went out the back door of the Chelsea Market and climbed the stairs to the High Line, the fairly new elevated park designed on formerly deserted train tracks. It was a beautiful, warm, sunny day. The Hudson River shimmered close by under thin iridescent clouds. Heaven.

We walked to the end of the High Line at 20th Street. Through the locked chain gate fence we could see the next extension which will be stretching north but is not open yet. Though it is on an elevated track in busy Manhattan, it somehow looked to me like a charming path through an English village.

Then we headed back down to the southern end of the High Line which ends in the Meatpacking District. TD and I were up on the High Line about a year ago, and the neat thing about it is that the plants and trees are getting bigger and filling in. Every year it gets better and better.


It's almost like you're in the woods. The landscape designers did a great job.

An Asian tourist asked me to take a picture of he and his wife, but his camera battery was dead. Then he took a picture of Suzy and I.

We met up with TD and proceeded to the Irish pub, The Brass Monkey, for a refreshment before we walked home and had dinner. Here are TD and Suzy talking at the bar.

It was fun to visit with Suzy and catch up and reminisce about old times. High school was such a long time ago. To be honest, I didn't actually have the greatest time in high school, but like the current campaign says:
"It Gets Better."
It really does.
And it was great to see a dear old friend.

A Trip to Chelsea Market

The new Anthropologie store, with Prince Lumber across 15th Street.

I recently had the chance to go through the great Chelsea Market which is located two blocks away from us, between Ninth Avenue and Tenth Avenue, and 15th Street and 16th Street. The building was originally constructed in the 1890s and was a factory which housed the ovens of the National Biscuit Company. In the 1990s it was bought and developed and redesigned into a food concourse filled with wonderful vendors selling fresh produce, meat, fish, wine, imported Italian goods, all kinds of good things. It's an entertaining destination. If you are visiting New York, don't miss the Chelsea Market.
The developer and designers have wisely and sensitively retained the industrial character of the building with exposed pipes and beams, and at the same time made it modern and comfortable. I love that style, which is called Industrial Chic or Rough Luxe, and mixes materials like wood, metal and brick.
The front door area of Chelsea Market on Ninth Avenue has recently been redesigned. I really like the oversized industrial metal light shades crowded together. Wood signage with metal plaques of companies in the building hangs on the weathered brick wall.

This Chelsea Market sign is crafted in metal and curves perfectly to fill the space.

The shiny metal elevator doors are etched with designs. The frame that holds the doors is a dull, sculpted metal. These metals contrast with the soft look of the worn brick.

Going up.

An Anthropologie store recently opened in the Chelsea Market in a big space which was a florist that we really liked. I'm a fan of Anthropologie too – they do some clever things. For example, in the new store this metal column has been camouflaged and collaged with scraps of newspaper, burlap and floral fabric.

Fabric was draped haphazardly over the back wall; I liked the white country table in the foreground.

Back out on the concourse, I admired the light fixtures. They look like Art Deco, from Paris.

A funny photography show was mounted on the walls. I believe facial hair was the theme.

I picked up some tilapia for dinner at the good fish market.

On the way out I stopped into Anthropologie again and saw a wonderful coffee table made out of an artist's paint-splotched surface mounted on rolling wheels. Behind it was a couch covered with flower-printed linen. I think that's a great way to live.

I think the whole Chelsea Market is a great way to live.

The Pleasure of the Rose

I love white roses and it's so easy to go to the deli at the corner and get a bunch and separate them into small vases. The one above went into a little handpainted vase I bought at Anthropologie on sale for $7.99.
A rose can hang on the wall

or stand on a table

or go on a desk. During the week they open up

and are different every day. Also they look different in the day in natural light

and at nighttime.

Light goes through the pale petals, like thin paper, which can take on a creamy blush. The unfolding buds are a joy to look at all week long.

And that's the pleasure of the rose.

Anthropologie, or Rough Luxe

A rusty bicycle piled high with old leather suitcases in the window of the Fifth Avenue store.

I was invited this week to preview a new television series which will follow Keith Johnson, Anthropologie's world-wide shopper. The series will be on the Sundance Channel starting October 7th, and in each episode, Keith will travel to a new country in search of unusual decorative objects, furniture and textiles for all the Anthropologie stores, as well as artists and crafts people to hire. That sounds like a great job! I'm looking forward to this show.

Keith Johnson is the partner of Glen Senk who is the CEO of Urban Outfitters, which is the parent company of Anthropologie. Their apartment on the Upper East Side of Manhattan is featured in the current issue of Elle Decor magazine. This couple met when they were nine years old. Ok, that must be a record! The end of the article gave me goose bumps.

I'm a big fan of Anthropologie. Although it's a women's clothing store, I love their items for the home and their store displays. They also have a great selection of style and travel books. Their windows and in-store designs often feature a clever use of paper which I think is charming. I guess other shoppers like Anthropologie too: even during the economic downturn Anthropologie is enjoying healthy growth both in terms of retails sales and stores opening across the country. Whenever I'm in the store on Fifth Avenue there is a line at the cash register.

The home merchandise is like a trip to a Paris flea market. Glasses and dishes are piled on wood and iron displays which are also for sale. I love the antique industrial combination of wood and iron.


I recently came across this article on The Wall Street Journal.com about "Rough Luxe" which celebrates this style. Peeling paint, rusting metal and hewn wood can be romantic when treated luxuriously. The style evokes the past, but in a clean, airy way which is not musty or overstuffed. It's what they do so well at Anthropologie, and it's an inspiration.

This metal painted table in Anthropologie looks like our coffee table which I found at the flea market for $25.


One year at the Jane Street Sale, I spotted this metal lamp shaped like a flower, below. Our next-door neighbor fashion designer Zac Posen asked the seller if he would come down from the $65 price, but it was non-negotiable. I came back later and got it for $40 – sorry Zac! My sister-in-law Tracy who works in retail and knows about these things said I should re-sell it to Anthropologie and they could reproduce it.


But I like it too much.